President Kiska to Commission Fico to Create New Government

Slovak President Andrej Kiska delivers his reaction to Saturday's general election (photo by TASR)

Bratislava, March 7 (TASR) – Slovak President Andrej Kiska announced at a press conference in Bratislava on Monday that he’ll commission current Prime Minister and Smer-SD leader Robert Fico on Tuesday with the task of attempting to create a new government.

Kiska at the same time pointed to the complicated situation that has arisen from Saturday’s general election. He said that no one will claim to be unsurprised by the outcome. “There are different results from what most of the parties expected. There are several new parties, including radical political extremism in uniform,” stressed Kiska.

“Multiple lines of division exist between the elected parties. Some just can’t be overcome, nor would it be right. Some will have to be overcome, even though it won’t be easy. The elected leaders will have to deal with that,” stated Kiska.

Kiska will meet six leaders of parties that have been elected to parliament. Fico won’t attend the meeting, as he’s travelling to the EU summit in Brussels, while Marian Kotleba, leader of the far-right Kotleba-People’s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), hasn’t been invited. “I’d like to know how the party chairs view the possibility of creating a stable majority. The situation is complicated, and that’s why I want to proceed systematically in order to find out which options we have and which we don’t,” explained Kiska.

According to Kiska, voters have been pointing to the need for increasing trust in the state for a long period. “This time they’ve said it so loudly and clearly that we couldn’t but hear it. I don’t think that our values are in jeopardy. People expect these values to bring concrete results for their daily lives, however,” added Kiska, emphasising the need for a government and opposition that would convince people to participate in an election and not only see it as a protest.

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The News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) is a public service, national and independent institution that provides information in the area of news coverage in accordance with the public interest. It was set up via Act No. 358/2008 on the News Agency of the Slovak Republic.